Plantain foutou with peanut sauce, Ivory Coast

Name: Plantain foutou with peanut sauce
Prep time: 25 min
Cook time: 50 min
Total time: 75 min
Yield: 4
Cuisine: Ivory Coast
Ingredients: 4 green or barely ripe plantains; 400 g fresh cassava, peeled; 200 g pure peanut paste; 2 African aubergines or 1 purple aubergine; 2 ripe tomatoes; 1 onion; 1 scotch bonnet chilli; 2 garlic cloves; 1 tbsp groundnut oil; 2 tsp salt

Method

Cut the plantain and cassava into large chunks. Boil them in salted water for 25 minutes, until a fork slides in without resistance.
Meanwhile soften the chopped onion in the oil, add the tomato, garlic and the whole chilli, then let it cook down for 10 minutes.
Loosen the peanut paste with 500 ml hot water to make a thick milk, then pour it into the pan with the quartered aubergine.
Simmer uncovered for 25 minutes, stirring often. The sauce is ready when peanut oil rises to the surface.
Pound the hot cassava in a mortar, then work in the plantain piece by piece. Keep going until the dough leaves the pestle as one smooth mass.
Wet your hands and shape balls, setting them in bowls before ladling the sauce over.

The pounding happens hot, because gelatinised starch stays pliable while warm and cracks once it cools. Cassava brings the sticky bind, plantain the sweetness and colour. A food processor will not stand in for the mortar, though a stand mixer with the dough hook comes close if you work in small batches.

The techniques this recipe uses

Sweat the aromatics
Medium heat, no browning: the onion should turn translucent and sweet, not toasted.
Reduce
Uncovered, water leaves and flavour concentrates. It is done when the sauce coats the back of a spoon.

Frequently asked questions

Can I make foutou in a machine instead of a mortar?

A stand mixer with the dough hook comes close if you work in small batches. A blender or food processor heats and cuts the starch rather than stretching it, and you end up with gluey paste instead of an elastic dough.

My dough cracks instead of staying supple. Why?

It cooled down. Gelatinised starch stays pliable only while the cassava and plantain are hot, and stiffens as it cools. Pound straight from the pot, and re-steam the pieces briefly if you have to stop.

How do I know the peanut sauce is done?

When the groundnut oil rises and beads on the surface, after about 25 minutes uncovered. Before that the sauce still tastes of raw paste.

Plantain foutou with peanut sauce

Method

The techniques this recipe uses

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Nutrition per serving

Frequently asked questions

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